186 Stalemate, I Think...
Revia had always been fast.
Speed was her key tool as when she first became a mercenary, her lack of strength due to her young age was eclipsed by her agility which made her a deadly weapon of carnage when lethal weaponry was left in her hands.
This was taken to an even more ridiculous level when she was found to be worthy of joining the Paladin Champions and granted a Divine Blessing.
<Hearts of Clarity>!
This Divine Blessing granted her three silver, ethereal hearts that would appear in her chest and seamlessly create threads upon threads of veins within her body, supporting all her flesh and organs and enhancing them for a staggering increase in speed!
Without it, Revia could use short bursts of incredible speed to overpower her opponents quickly before they could even engage her but these bursts usually required some long cooldown periods depending on the distance travelled.
This was why performing these in rapid succession was impossible for her, otherwise, she would have blitzed Actuass multiple times over. At least from what he had shown so far.
With the Divine Blessing, she could spam these bursts of speed for long stretches of time and manage some extremely insane movements that would bewilder any ordinary combatant.
‘She’s getting serious..’ Actuass thought.
From his ring of green coloured runes which expanded to cover half of the floor of the temple on his side, devouring benches within its space where nothing could be seen once it fell in, skeletons began to rise!
They were all decked in rusted armour which still had hints of the lustre from its prime, chipped and cracked bones that were saturated with thick undeath energy and hollow sockets that flared with greenish black flames!
They all held weapons that looked to have made names for themselves back in the day, as different from lower level undead, they all held dignified stances and howling, exposed cores ranging from bright white to bright blue!
A little more than two hundred of these appeared as Actuass then pointed at Revia, wordlessly commanding the army to attack her!
The well furnished floors of the temple ruptured as these powerful undead burst forward with seasoned steps, launching a flurry of attacks with their weapons!
BA-DUM! BA-DUM! BA-DUM! BA-DUM!
The echoing of hearts continued to beat as the undead approached, Revia having sheathed her sword while gazing ahead languidly.
Then…
The Paladin Champion became decked in a brilliant layer of obscure light that outlined her figure which vanished for a fraction of a millisecond, and then…
MBING!
A familiar noise rang out, this time its intensity blowing apart the floors and walls of the temple nearest to the doors like a bomb!
However, this wasn’t the only development, as tens of thousands of small fragments of bone flew in all directions at lightning speed, Revia having decimated hundreds of high level undead in an instant and off chapter!
Fine powder and tiny pieces of bone were shattered as Revia had obliterated all the undead and went on to attack Actuass at an even greater speed than before!
Yet…
Her silver blade once again found its fangs biting into the hard bones, the ribcage this time, of the green skeleton that had gone out of the temple some time ago!
Revia frowned, the brows above her grey eyes making a funny wiggle to show her annoyance.
‘So nomatter the distance, he can just switch positions with this thing?’ Revia thought as she then frustratedly grumbled.
The green skeleton remained stationary before her as its ribs didn’t let up with her sword.
High Priest Valis was still hidden within his golden barrier, watching with cautious eyes what was occurring. He wasn’t unaware of Revia’s capabilities and thus wasn’t surprised with her display.
His focus had been on the skeleton that had rushed out, his worry going towards the fact that it may have started slaughtering people left and right!
Shockingly, it appeared that this wasn’t the case.
The skeleton had merely been waiting a vast distance away from the temple, standing absolutely still.
Now, it had taken Actuass’ place, defending him from Revia!
Without delay, Valis struck the ground with his staff, a massive bright star appearing above him with a golden white light that sprang a positive light on the surroundings!
It shot into the air, vanishing through the ceiling as if it didn’t exist as it then settled high in the sky, causing the people’s attention which had been drawn by the explosion at the temple to be pulled toward it instead.
It became akin to a second sun but without the additional heat as it gave a reassuring light.
Hazy golden barriers instantly began to cover everyone in the city.
EVERYONE!
The hearts of the many were soothed as they felt an unbridled sense of warmth and protection.
Within the temple, Valis immediately called out to Revia who was facing against the green skeleton which didn’t respond to her presence.
“Revia! I have all the civilians under the protection of the Blessing. Fight! Don’t hold back!” Valis yelled.
His staff had the Divine Blessing called Star of the Night, which was very well geared towards supporting to a terrifying degree with all its skills having something to do with a star.
“Yes, High Priest,” Revia replied in a formal tone as she then vanished from the temple, warping space dancing on her initial position.
The speed!
The top five Paladin Champions within the Purity were given titles according to their most prominent traits.
Revia’s title was ‘She Who Can’t Be Caught’, a reference to her immense speed which she then progressively demonstrated.
She appeared a millisecond later within the city above a rather rocky road within a portion of the residences where she brought down her katana with intense speed that warped the figure she had suddenly rushed to!
Everything remained still, with suspended hazy duplicates of the everyone in the vicinity hanging above them!
As her sword dropped on her enemy, Actuass, who had appeared almost twelve kilometres into the city, his stance showing that he had been in the middle of a dash, it happened again!
MBING!
The skeleton’s figure replaced Actuass who appeared back in the temple, with his hazel coloured eyes doing their best to focus!
Yet…
He felt a dreadful and cold sensation coming towards his neck and then…
Switch!
He appeared in the same street as before, finding the ground still in the process exploding with molten rock about in a wide, hundred meter crater, sinking houses within itself, only for his figure to flash into the temple again, where the same level of destruction was beginning to occur too!
Revia was trying to attack them at the same time but… distance was the problem.
No wonder the skeleton had rushed away back then.
This effect was effective as long as the two were away from each other, especially against her, and it also seemed automatic!
Revia stopped for a while as she then perked atop one of the buildings while looking at the two.
‘This is ridiculous. Is this to tire me out or something? No. There’s definitely something else I’m missing.’ she thought, her brows wiggling again.
BOOM! BOOM!
All the places where she had clashed with that freakishly strong skeleton, which were just two, exploded in earth shattering sequences that caused the millions of people in the city to scream and become anxious.
Actuass who finally had some breathing room sighed as his vision focused. He looked around and saw the people around covered in protective barriers.
“That almost completely cuts off my alternative moves,” he said before shook his head. “Basic necromancy won’t do it seems. How about advanced necromancy?”
Actuass extended his arm again, releasing another ring on the ground, this time smaller than the previous.
From it, a freshly dead corpse appeared and lay on the ground, donning a rather exquisite armour with glowing circles of orange atop of its black and sleek exterior!
Thick green wisps of energy entered the body as within no time, the corpse rose from the ground and looked vacantly ahead with its discoloured eyes!
Revia narrowed her eyes as she wondered what this man was about to do.
It didn’t seem like the same cheap trick from before.
“I used to be a believer you know?” Actuass said as from his body emanated a thick layer of greenish black fumes.
“I can tell when someone’s faith is faltering.”
Even though quite a distance existed between him and Revia, his voice reached her just fine.
“Do you think mind games will work on me?” Revia said back, her voice also travelling the distance between where dust and crackling rock from the destruction emerged, highlighting the shielded civilians who sustained no damage from all this.
“I wouldn’t call them games but… indeed, they do seem as such. SoSei, attack.”
SoSei was the name of the green skeleton, and as soon as it heard the command, it jerked, its red socket flames changing to blue.